


Peace on Earth

by slightlyjillian



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Future Fic, Gen, Self-Exile
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-23
Updated: 2014-11-23
Packaged: 2018-02-26 17:00:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2659598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slightlyjillian/pseuds/slightlyjillian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post Episode 2x05. Murphy chooses exile and finds something else.<br/><i>"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today, Tomorrow will be dying."</i><br/>- Robert Herrick</p>
            </blockquote>





	Peace on Earth

**Author's Note:**

> Future Fic. Sharing a snapshot of what I might want to happen, not what I expect. Thanks for reading, please enjoy!

"Finn?" Murphy shouted. He stopped just inside the main tent tossing the room with his gaze. The dull yellow of the desert sun blurred all of the contents into a water painting of merging greys and tan, but no Finn. 

"Where are you?" Murphy tried again, pushing back into the scorching heat of mid-afternoon. He pulled the cloth of his scarf up to protect his blistering lips. For all of the years he had called this wasteland his home he couldn't shake the persistent, bottomless thirst. He tried again, "Finn? I didn't mean to yell."

 _Water_ , Murphy realized. He huffed and dragged himself back to the shelter where they kept the barrels. The cliffs in the distance were a common stop for those traveling toward the City of Lights. Murphy conducted trades at the shack he built there, often exchanging water to weary strangers for their news or gear. 

Finn was supposed to stay clear of travelers. Murphy reckoned the risk of bounty hunters was too high. But after a quarrel, Finn didn't always make the wisest decisions.

"I could have fetched that for you," Murphy started, eyes adjusting to the dark as he pushed into the lean-to shack. Finn had perched on one of the barrels, flask still set against his lips. 

"Yeah, you could have," Finn agreed. "But I thought I'd let you be mad." He drank again, then offered Murphy the flask. 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Murphy grumbled, cooling with relief and the liquid refreshment. "I told you I don't care. I don't mind doing this."

"You made your point very clear." That Finn could sound so level-headed irked Murphy more than anything else. It was Finn's nature to revert to stillness while Murphy still _itched_ to throw a few punches. 

"Then you're going to come with me?" Murphy pushed. Finn had exploded when Murphy originally read the letter of invitation. Which had brought them to this moment. 

Finn ignored his question, or didn't hear it. "You already have to do so much. Why can't I get water for myself when you're tired of me?"

"Idiot," Murphy sighed, heavily, and glared at the walls with the last of his anger. 

"How much trouble do you think they had to go to? One day of truce," Finn pondered.

"And time to travel," Murphy added. "I didn't know it would make you upset or I would have found some way to tell Bellamy the answer was 'No'."

"One day of peace on Earth," Finn said, lips tilting into a smile. He did that so seldom anymore, Murphy wondered if the dark shadows had played a trick on Finn's face. 

If Finn could smile again, then the whole disaster of broaching the subject was worth it. 

Murphy exhaled, "So do you think they're going to expect presents?"

.:.

Murphy felt strange proposing to leave all they had accumulated to the mercy of whoever happened by while they were gone. He estimated the journey to the Sea People's nearest village would take a week, one way, while carrying the most minimal of supplies. And the presents.

Finn insisted on presents.

"How old do you think Jack is now?" Finn asked. 

Murphy had bartered for beads and pieces of metal that could only have come from Ark wreckage. Finn eventually worked the pieces into jewelry, each painstakingly considered. But once decided, Finn's art was quickly realized. 

From his favorite hammock, Murphy delicately examined one of the pieces Finn had finished. Murphy murmured, "Jacqueline should be about four."

"Four," Finn sighed, going still and staring. 

Glancing over, Murphy scoffed, "Don't tell me you're going to hold the kid's birthday against her? Just because it reminds you of how long it's been since…"

"I know you think that I still can't get over Clarke, but if I can't convince you then stop bringing it up," warned Finn, calmly.

"Fine," Murphy conceded, holding up his palms in mock surrender. "Your blank stare is the picture of complete mental sanity."

"Can't help the way I look," Finn teased, almost convincingly.

He made two necklaces and a charm bracelet before he finished. Murphy guessed which went to whom. 

"Nothing for Bellamy?" Murphy checked, cautiously. Finn hadn't indicated any remaining bad blood, that had all burned up after the drop ship launched its rockets for the last time. And after the Event, Finn had lost all the smoldering ashes that had remained. 

"Bellamy?" Finn repeated. He chuckled, "I thought you would want that honor."

.:.

They kept the letters in an old lunchbox that said "The Flash". One day, after Murphy had spent most of the morning pointing travelers toward the next oasis, he returned to the tents to find Finn had opened the tin and scattered the letters around him. 

It ached, somewhat, to see the well-worn pages supporting new tears and creases from fits of abuse, but Murphy bit his lip instead of protesting. Finn was only re-reading them afterall. And they had been Finn's friends first.

" _Dear Finn_ ," he read, sensing Murphy's presence. " _Tell the bastard that we didn't hate his suggestion about trading for habanero to put in the jellies._ " Finn breathed a laugh.

"More people should listen to me the first time," Murphy agreed. "Scratch that… _all_ people should listen to me."

Finn leaned back to look up at Murphy. Finn asked, "Rough morning?"

"No," Murphy shrugged. "We have everything we need now. For the trip." He waited for a response, but Finn simply waited for whatever was next. 

Murphy crossed over to his hammock and snagged a piece of fruit on his way. After chewing a bite, Murphy added, "Oh, and Raven might be there too."

"Another letter?" Finn inquired, sounding rather more neutral than he might have during the first year of his exile. The exile that Finn had accepted as a generous, greatly debated and belated response to the Event. 

"She may have addressed it to you, but I read it anyway," Murphy said, and flicked out his fingers offering the new paper with its fresh creases. 

For better or worse, all those years ago, Murphy had elected to join Finn in the desert. 

.:.

And then they left. Murphy still felt a bizarre sense of ownership for the things they were leaving behind. Finn happily ignored everything from their present life and made tracks in the direction of the sea. 

Finn looked so different from the boy who had first arrived to Earth so long ago. He let Murphy put braids into his hair, which was once again falling longer than Murphy found comfortable on his own head. And gone were the tattered clothes and heavy jackets from the Ark. Instead, they wore lighter garb in layers having adopted the practical look of the nomadic people and the other exiles in the desert. 

Finn also sported a healthy tan. Which was very annoying as Murphy endlessly peeled if he let himself accidentally burn. 

So when they reached the damp greens of the forest, Murphy shivered at how they both stuck out like intruders. He gripped his pack and let his fingertips brush the invitation he had placed into his inside pockets. That single sheet, co-signed by Luna of the Sea People, was their only legitimate defense for crossing the unmarked border.

Finn pulled to the side of the path, letting them rest for the first time. "It never seems so close as it is." He gestured at the woods.

"Well, if you're homesick already, I suppose you could climb that tree there and just about see the tents," Murphy joked. 

"Do you miss this?"

"What would I miss?" Murphy challenged. "I had just about as much reason to stick around as you did. Meaning, none."

"You could have stayed. They had more to offer than I did," Finn corrected. 

"I don't remember you complaining at the time," Murphy recalled. "Why are you bringing this up now? What's this all about?"

"You could stay…" Finn pointed out. "You wouldn't have to go back."

"Not really an option," Murphy shrugged. "We've got a nice arrangement at the cliffs, don't you think? I run the shop and you keep the tents. That way no one recognizes you and decides to deal out a little revenge…"

Finn chuckled, "So that's how you see it?"

"Yeah," Murphy drawled, "How else do you see it?"

"I thought," Finn shook his head, "I thought you didn't see me as _capable_ …"

"That too," Murphy added, hastily. "You'd probably accept any damn exchange those cheap Grounders offered."

"Birds," Finn said, suddenly. Finn looked up and watched the small creatures fly overhead. Then everything was still again. Almost peaceful. Murphy watched Finn.

"Do you need me to look at the map?" Finn asked, eventually, returning to the present.

"Nope," Murphy pushed ahead. "I know where we're going. You just enjoy the scenery."

.:.

"I don't miss the rain," Murphy grumbled as they took shelter in caves so low and so narrow they doubted even the Reapers would bother with them. 

"With the way the temperature has been dropping this could have easily been snow," Finn replied, cheerfully pulling from some reserve of energy that Murphy envied. Murphy started to drag over the still dry leaves as Finn made a place to light a small fire. Just something to last until they became sleepy.

"I was already in the Sky Box by the time they got to this section of Earth Skills," Murphy admitted, watching Finn gently blow on the sparks.

"Earth Skills was theory," Finn explained. "Nothing about the Ark really prepared us for what was going to happen down here."

"Well," Murphy slyly added, "One could say the Sky Box taught us more."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Finn sat back, wrapping his arms around his knees and looking, almost, pensive. 

"Do you remember Roma?" Murphy began. "Well, she was always complaining that the Sky Box showers ran out of water rations before she could get in there. And Earth didn’t exactly promote daily cleanliness by traditional means."

"I didn't know you knew Roma," Finn queried. "Were you close?"

"Not really," Murphy shrugged. "As close as anyone could be." He paused. "We lost a lot of kids in those first few weeks."

"Yes, we did," Finn agreed. He fed the fire, then shifted closer to Murphy as the dark of rain became the dark of night.

.:.

"You slept for a long time," Finn said one morning when they were about halfway to the sea. 

Murphy didn't mention that he had already been awake for hours waiting for Finn to stir. And leave. Then waiting to see if Finn would come back. He always did.

After four years in the desert, Murphy wasn't sure what he had expected except that exile with Finn was infinitely better than those nights he had spent alone, banished from the drop ship camp. Murphy did, sometimes, remember that solitude in the first moments of the day, before the desert heat or Finn's breathing could remind Murphy that this time it was different.

Other days, Finn's moody silence was barely different from loneliness. Neither of them were truly meant for isolation and that did wear on them. Finn snapping and Murphy yelling back. 

Finn sat next to Murphy, then added, "You must have needed it. We haven't walked this far in a long time."

"What do you expect?" Murphy complained, stretching and his joints protested as well.

"I wonder if they look much different," Finn answered a different question.

"It's not like we suddenly became old granddads," Murphy joked, not certain if Finn was fixing for another argument about Clarke. Earth had ruined many things. But what was the saying? _Gather ye rosebuds while ye may…_ Once Murphy had admitted liking Finn as a peacemaker. He still appreciated the glimpses of that boy in his friend.

"Raven said that Wick couldn't leave Camp Jaha during the latest transition, so she must have found some way to make the journey on her own," Finn pondered. 

"Just as well," Murphy shrugged. "It might make Wick feel odd if I'm more successful flirting with Raven than he is."

"You don't say?" Finn twisted to scold Murphy with a raised brow. 

"Well, it's not like you have a chance with her anymore."

"Oh my god," retorted Finn sounding scandalized. It led to some laughter that left Murphy's spirits feeling absolutely buoyant. Perhaps this trip wouldn't be a complete disaster.

Murphy grinned, expecting the mood would at least last until they reached the sea. _This same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying._

.:.

"Do you think Octavia will be there? I like Octavia," Murphy said on the last day, before the silence became unbearable even to him. "Maybe she stopped by Camp Jaha and picked up Raven. I know they had a difference of opinion after how things went down with Kane, but I'm sure…"

"You wouldn't have let me come this far if you didn't think it was all going to be okay," Finn interrupted. He had been walking several feet ahead, only waiting for Murphy to call out directions when the natural pathways divided into options. Now he dropped back, matching pace with Murphy. Finn chewed his lips into a tight smile.

"Okay," Murphy stopped. "I didn't think this needed saying. But apparently it does. So I'm going to say it once."

"Okay," Finn parroted, apprehension riding on his shoulders. They had fought over many things. But nothing so important as this lingering pressure in the atmosphere now recognized.

"You screwed up," Murphy started. "Very badly. Once."

Finn dropped his chin, braids cascading forward over his shoulder. 

"But I was there," continued Murphy. "And I'm here. Because the promise I made to Bellamy became something I wanted to do anyway. And I know what it's like to come back after crap. I couldn't be there for Mbege. Or Roma. But I'm here now." 

Finn lifted his eyes, a brightness of understanding replacing the unspoken question that had always sat in them previously.

"This whole Christmas armistice was your idea?" Finn realized. "You coordinated the whole thing without me catching on?"

Murphy shrugged, moving forward into however their companionship was going to transform. "And you know how much I dislike having to write anything. So embarrassing." Murphy felt his face turning hot. 

"This is all a Christmas present," Finn said, dismayed. "I didn't get you anything."

"Idiot," Murphy answered, grumbling. He bumped their shoulders aggressively pressing against Finn. Neither of them pulling away. "Don’t be absurd. I hate Christmas."


End file.
